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Dracula is a British-American limited series[1] television drama that is expected to air on Sky Living and premiered on NBC. It is produced by London-based Carnival Films. Dracula premiered on October 25, 2013, and will air on Fridays 10/9c after new episodes of Grimm on NBC.[2] The series was created by Cole Haddon, and is a reimagining of the classic Dracula novel by Bram Stoker.[3] Daniel Knauf, creator of the HBO series Carnivàle, will serve as showrunner/head writer, working with Haddon.[4]

The series begins in the United Kingdom on Halloween 31 October 2013 on Sky Living.[5]

The network announced the series in January 2012 with a straight-to-series commitment, and in July 2012 the series was green-lit for 10 episodes.[3][6]

Enjoyed the pilot overall and the premise seems perfect for a limited run series. My hope is that the show producers are able to maintain the high quality look of the show for the remaining nine episodes (and that the Lady Jane character sticks around for the remaining nine as well).

I enjoyed it, even though it was so radically divorced from Stoker's novel that I suspect it began as an unrelated concept (probably a Tesla-esque inventor versus a secret society that ruled the world) that had Dracula grafted onto it as a marketable hook.

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"When David Marcus cited the great thinkers of history -- "Newton, Einstein, Surak" -- Newt Gingrich did not make his list." -- 24 January 2012

I have trouble getting past the music, especially the horribly anachronistic percussion in the supposedly diegetic dance music at Drac/Grayson's reception. Honestly, that didn't sound remotely like anything people would have danced to in the 1890s, or ever. It sounded like wallpaper music in "ominous" mode, so it threw me for a loop when I realized it was supposed to be what the characters were dancing to.

I'm also not clear on whom to root for. Is Dracula, a serial killer, supposed to be the hero? He's certainly not as devoid of charisma as Jessica DeGouw (Arrow's Huntress) as Mina or Oliver Jackson-Cohen as the most annoying Jonathan Harker I've ever seen. They and Van Helsing are usually the characters we're supposed to root for, but here VH is working with Dracula. So I'm not sure there are any genuine good guys here, at least none that aren't boring.

I do find it interesting that practically nobody in the cast is using their native accent. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is an Irishman doing both American and English accents (though why not a Transylvanian one?). DeGouw is Australian doing English. Katie McGrath (Lucie) and Victoria Smurfit (Jane) are Irish doing English. Nonso Anozie (Renfield) is English doing American. Kretschmann is German doing Dutch (I suppose). Michael Nardone (Kruger) is English doing German. The only lead actor using his real accent is Jackson-Cohen — yet oddly his is the accent that sounds the most fake to me.

I did like seeing Jonathan using a typewriter -- though really it should've been Mina. In the Stoker novel, Mina's typewriter is practically one of the main characters, as it enables her to type up and organize various notes and interviews and thus help Jonathan and Van Helsing piece together the mystery and identify and track Count Dracula. Heck, the novel is practically an extended typewriter commercial.

I'm also not clear on whom to root for. Is Dracula, a serial killer, supposed to be the hero?

After one hour, he does seem like the tragic anti-hero of the piece. Meyers says that, no, Dracula is the villain of the piece, but it doesn't feel that way yet. Right now, he seems like a character working to destroy the secret cabals that control the world.

I'd rate Rafe Spall in the BBC's 2006 Dracula as worse. Nothing about that production is worth speaking of.

Christopher wrote:

I did like seeing Jonathan using a typewriter -- though really it should've been Mina. In the Stoker novel, Mina's typewriter is practically one of the main characters, as it enables her to type up and organize various notes and interviews and thus help Jonathan and Van Helsing piece together the mystery and identify and track Count Dracula. Heck, the novel is practically an extended typewriter commercial.

Somehow, I don't think fidelity to the novel is what the producers had in mind.

__________________
"When David Marcus cited the great thinkers of history -- "Newton, Einstein, Surak" -- Newt Gingrich did not make his list." -- 24 January 2012

I gave it a go because I heard Robert Bathurst was going to be in it.
But I found myself switching off part way through the episode I'm not sure if its the writing or because I'm feeling like crap.
But because its only 9 eps I will probably stick with it.